Latch-operating mechanism for automobile-doors.



W. J. HOSKYNS.

LATCH-OPERATING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILE DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16. I915.

Patented July 17, 1917 MTOR/I/EB nnrrn snare rannr re,

WILLIAM J. I-IOSKYNS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK E. SMITH,OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

LATCH -OPERATING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILE-DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedJuly 1'7, 1917.

Application filed December 16, 1916. Serial No. 137,313.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. I-IosKYNs, acitizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county ofWayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and usefulLatch-Operating Mechanism for ,Automobile-Doors, of whichthe followingis a specification. s

In many automobile. bodies of the open top type, the latches for thedoors are accessible only from the inside,*f0r, by reason of the opentop type, a person desiring to open the door from the outside can do soby merely reaching over the top of the door to reach the latch-operatinghandle on the in side. However, when these bodies have closed topsapplied to them, to produce the so-called all-year car, thelatch-operating means on the inside of the door becomes inaccessiblefrom the outside, because the space over the door is closed.

It is the object of my present invention to provide an auxiliarylatch-operating mechanism which may be applied to these doors when thewinter tops are applied to the bodies of which they form part, wherebythe latch may be operated from within as before but may also be operatedfrom the outside; and to do this without requiring any of thelatch-operating parts to be in the removable top.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention. Figure 1 1s a sideelevation of a touring car body equipped with my invention; Fig. 2 is afragmentary elevation from the inside of a portion of the door and itsjamb at the latch, showing one well-known form of door latch proper; andFig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing another well-known typeof door latch.

The body 10 of the automobile is shown as of the touring car type-havingdoors 11, and equipped with a removable winter top 12, of which theportions 13 over the doors 11 are attached to the doors by brackets 14.Each door 11 is hinged in the usual manner, and cooperates with asuitable door jamb 15 forming part of the body 10. The door is heldclosed by a suitable latch cooperat- 5o ing with a latch-receiving partcarried by the door amb.

The latches and latch-receiving parts may take various forms. In thearrangement shown in Fig. 2 there is a pivoted latch bar 20 carried by apivot pin 21in the door 11,

and the rear end of this pivoted latch bar is provided with an upwardlyextending arm 22 exposed on the inner face of the door so that it can begrasped to turn the latch from the full line to the dotted line positionagainst the action of the spring 23 which tends to throw the latch andhandle to the full-line position, in which it may cooperate with aprojecting finger 24: from the door jamb to hold the door closed. Theupper end of the arm 22 is quite close to the top of the door ll, sothat the arm is readily accessible from the outside when the winter top12 is not in place. However,-when the winter top is in place, the arm 22becomes inaccessible from the outside. In order still to make itoperable, I mount in the door 11 a latch-operating pin 25 which projectsthrough the door from the inside to the outside and at its outer end isprovided with a handle 26 by which it may be turned and at its inner endwith an upwardly projecting finger 27 which bears against the arm 22 sothat when the handle 26 is turned the finger 27 pushes the arm 22 towardthe dotted line position to tilt the latch bar 20 and thus release itfrom the finger 24. The pin 25 is carried by the lower end of thebracket 14 which fastens the portions 13 of the removable top to thedoors 11.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, there is a sliding latch 30 which isspring-pressed by a spring 31 into a socket 32 in the door jamb 15, anda latch-operating arm 33 pivoted at its lower end on a pivot pin 34carries a roller 35 working in a transverse slot in the sliding latch 30and projects upward beyond such latch between the two walls of the door,at its upper end being provided with a pin projecting through a slot 36in the inner wall of the door on which pin is an operating knob 87. Thisknob 37 is accessible from the inside; and is also accessible from theoutside when the winter top 12 is not in place. In order to operate thelatch 30 from the outside when the winter top is in place, I provide asbefore a pivot pin 25 which extends through the door 11 from inside tooutside and is carried by the bracket 14:, being provided on the outsideas before with a handle 26. On the inside, however, the pin 25 isprovided with an upwardly extending arm 38 which corresponds largely tothe arm 27 of the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 but is provided at itsupper end with thereby Withdraw the bolt 30 to permit the opening of thedoor.

In both these forms of my invention, the latch is made readily operablefrom the outside of the door, while still being operable from the insideof the door by the same mechanism as is ordinarily provided.

I claim as my invention: a

An automobile body having a door, a latch carried by said door, alatch-operating arm accessible from the inside, a pin projecting throughthe door and provided With a handle on the outside and an arm carried bythe inner end of said pin and bearing against said latch-operating armto make the latch operable from the outside by the handle While it isstill operable from the inside by said latch-operating arm, incombination with a removable top having a section over said door, andattaching means for attaching said section to said door, said attachingmeans including a bracket in which said pin is pivotally mounted, andsaid latch and both arms being mounted in the door of said body so thatthe top section over the door is removable Without disturbing them andthe latch is operable from either side whether or not said top sectionis in place.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis,Indiana, this 12th day of December, A. B. one thousand nine hundred andsixteen.

WILLIAM J. HOSKYNS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

, Washington, D. G.

